There’s a quiet storm brewing in the digital frontier, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison isn’t just watching—he’s leading the charge. Alongside 43 of his colleagues from across the ideological spectrum, Ellison has thrown his weight behind a bipartisan coalition opposing the KIDS Act, a bill that would roll back federal oversight of online platforms. Their move isn’t just about policy; it’s a cultural reset in how America grapples with the wild, unregulated west of the internet—where children, misinformation, and corporate power collide. And if this coalition succeeds, the ripple effects will reshape not just tech law, but the very architecture of digital democracy.
The KIDS Act, or Kids Internet Design and Safety Act, is framed as a solution to the soaring mental health crisis among teens, where screen addiction and algorithmic exploitation have become as predictable as the tides. But here’s the twist: the bill’s critics—including Ellison—argue it’s a Trojan horse for deregulation. By stripping the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of its authority to enforce COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) and handing oversight to a new Digital Safety Commission, the law would effectively gut the FTC’s ability to hold Big Tech accountable. The coalition’s opposition isn’t about opposing child safety—it’s about who gets to decide the rules.
The Bipartisan Fracture: Why Ellison’s Coalition is a Big Deal
This isn’t your typical red-state-blue-state showdown. The coalition includes heavy hitters like New York’s Letitia James and Texas’s Ken Paxton, a rare alignment of progressive and conservative AGs united by one principle: they don’t trust Congress—or Silicon Valley—to self-regulate. Their argument? The KIDS Act’s voluntary compliance model is a loophole factory, waiting to be exploited by platforms that have spent years dodging accountability. As Ellison put it in a statement last week,
“We’ve seen this movie before. Self-regulation worked out so well for the tobacco industry, didn’t it?”
The coalition’s leverage is legal. Attorneys general have a history of suing tech giants over privacy violations (see: Meta’s $1.3 billion settlement in 2023). Their opposition forces lawmakers to confront a hard truth: if they water down COPPA, they’ll hand tech companies a blank check to experiment on kids without consequences. But here’s the information gap the original report glossed over: What happens if this bill passes anyway?
What the KIDS Act Really Means for Big Tech—and You
Let’s break it down. The KIDS Act proposes three major shifts:
- Weakened FTC oversight: The FTC’s COPPA enforcement has been the only federal shield protecting kids’ data. Under the bill, the FTC’s power to fine violators drops from $43,792 per violation to $10,000—a 98% discount for platforms like TikTok or YouTube Kids.
- A new “Digital Safety Commission”: Staffed by industry appointees (yes, the same companies they’re regulating), this panel would set “voluntary” safety standards. Historically, voluntary standards have led to voluntary compliance—meaning zero.
- Immunity for platforms: The bill grants online services legal immunity from lawsuits if they follow the commission’s guidelines. Translation: If your kid’s data gets harvested, too bad—we’ve got paperwork.
The tech industry is loving this. Meta, Google, and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, have lobbied heavily for the KIDS Act, framing it as a way to “empower parents”. But here’s the kicker: none of these companies have a history of empowering anyone but shareholders. As Electronic Frontier Foundation legal director Caitlin Seeley told Archyde,
“This isn’t about safety. It’s about liability shielding. Big Tech wants to keep collecting data, but they don’t want to pay when kids get hurt. The KIDS Act is their get-out-of-jail-free card.”
The Mental Health Crisis: Who’s Really Losing?
The bill’s sponsors, including Rep. Kim Johnson (D-TX) and Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ), argue that something must be done about the 1 in 3 teens reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression—up from 1 in 5 in 2010. The correlation between screen time and mental health decline is well-documented, but the KIDS Act’s solution is not to regulate algorithms or ad targeting—it’s to let platforms off the hook.
Enter Dr. Jean Twenge, a social psychologist and author of “Generation Me”, who’s spent decades studying generational shifts in mental health. She’s skeptical of the KIDS Act’s approach:
“We know that social media algorithms are designed to maximize engagement, not well-being. If we’re serious about protecting kids, we need mandatory design changes—like time limits, default privacy settings, and bans on targeted ads to minors. This bill does the opposite.”
The data backs her up. A 2024 Commonwealth study found that 90% of top-performing TikTok videos for teens feature addictive, dopamine-driven content—think endless scrolls of short-form videos, not educational or creative material. The KIDS Act’s focus on parental controls (which 60% of parents don’t even know exist, per a Pew study) ignores the root problem: platforms are engineered to exploit kids.
The International Domino Effect: How the U.S. Could Trigger a Global Race to the Bottom
Here’s where it gets really interesting. The U.S. Isn’t just setting its own rules—it’s dictating global standards. The Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime and the UN’s guidelines on children’s digital rights both push for stronger protections. But if the U.S. Weakens COPPA, other countries will follow suit—not out of malice, but because why compete with a market that offers no consequences?.
Consider the EU’s GDPR, which gives kids 16+ the right to consent to data collection. The U.S. Is not following that path. Instead, it’s deregulating. This creates a two-tiered internet: one where European kids have rights, and American kids have algorithmic exploitation. As Rufus Pollock, co-founder of Open Knowledge International, warns:
“The U.S. Is becoming a digital Wild West. If we don’t act now, we’ll see a global race to the bottom in child protection laws, with the weakest standards winning out.”
The Political Math: Who Wins If the KIDS Act Passes?
Let’s play winner-takes-all:
- Winners:
- Big Tech: Meta, Google, TikTok—they get immunity, weaker fines, and a green light to keep harvesting data.
- Congress: Lawmakers avoid political blame for inaction while appearing to do something about teen mental health.
- Lobbyists: The tech industry’s war chest funds campaigns for lawmakers who vote “yes.”
- Losers:
- Kids: More data harvesting, more addictive algorithms, and zero consequences for platforms that profit from their attention.
- Parents: The illusion of “parental controls” won’t stop TikTok’s shadow profiles or Meta’s underage data leaks.
- Future Innovators: If the U.S. Becomes a digital dystopia for kids, the next generation of tech leaders will grow up normalizing exploitation—just like the current generation did.
The AGs’ coalition isn’t just about policy—they’re fighting for the soul of the internet. Their opposition forces a binary choice: Do we want an internet where corporations decide the rules, or one where laws protect the vulnerable?
The Path Forward: What Can You Do?
This isn’t a story with a neat ending—yet. The KIDS Act is still in committee, and the AGs’ legal pressure is just beginning. But here’s how you can push the needle:
- Contact your rep: Tell them you don’t want a “voluntary” safety net for your kids. Use this directory to find your lawmakers.
- Support the AGs’ legal fight: Organizations like the EFF and Commonwealth are tracking the bill—donate or volunteer.
- Demand transparency: Ask platforms like TikTok or YouTube publicly how they’ll comply with the KIDS Act’s “voluntary” standards. Here’s where to start.
The internet isn’t going to regulate itself. And if the KIDS Act passes, neither will Big Tech. The question is: Will we let them?
